Now Thing

The obvious attraction of dancehall reggae is the chattering of vocalists like Beenie Man and Bounty Killer. Strip away the rhymes, though, and you get beats that would make the RZA's head spin. The 15 dancehall instrumentals on Now Thing are not exactly reggae but, rather, furious cut-ups of everything from techno and hiphop to computer music and outer-space transmissions featuring titles like Z2010, Warlord and Space Invaders. The mysterious producer Lenky is the star here, creating rhythms that sound like the bastard children of Sun Ra and Timbaland and are driven by spooky organ riffs, neck-snapping drum breaks and what sounds like a sample of a grumbling stomach. Proof that brain-melting, chemically enhanced dub did not end with Lee Perry.